Tweah, others hope on S/Court

Former Finance Minister Samuel D. Tweah and four other former government officials from the Weah regime face charges of economic sabotage.

Capitol Hill, March 6, 2025/Just days after prosecutors and defense lawyers failed to select jurors ahead of the trial of former Finance Minister Samuel Tweah and four others, the defense has petitioned the Supreme Court seeking to stop lower court Judge Rosevelt Willie from proceeding with the trial.

The move comes after Criminal Court “C” Judge Willie denied the defendants’ motion requesting him (Judge) to halt the trial on grounds that the lower court lacks jurisdiction of the subject matter, which is more of a national security issue.

On Monday, both defense and prosecution lawyers rejected over 20 individuals who made it to the court to be selected as jurors. They were said to either be compromised by some form of relationship with defendants or not fit to serve as jurors on the subject matter.

Tweah, alongside Cllr. Nyanti Tuan (former Acting Minister of Justice), Stanley S. Ford (former Director General of Financial Intelligence), D. Moses P. Cooper (former Financial Intelligence Comptroller), and Jefferson Karmoh (former National Security Advisor to President George Weah), were indicted by LACC on charges of economic sabotage, theft, illegal disbursement and expenditure of public funds, criminal conspiracy, misuse of public money, and criminal facilitation.

The indictment alleges that the defendants violated the Financial Intelligence Agency Act of 2022 by conspiring to transfer US$500,000 and L$1,055,152,540 from the Central Bank of Liberia through the operational account of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU).

Early last week, Tweah and others filed a motion before Criminal Court “C” Judge Willie requesting that the Judge dismiss the indictment of Economic Sabotage brought against them. They argued that the court lacked jurisdiction to preside over such a matter, citing national security interests.

However, the judge, in his ruling Friday, February 28, said the case could not be dismissed as prayed for by the defense because of the totality of the circumstances and laws regarding the instant case.

According to Judge Willie, the Liberian Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC) did not establish any proof or documentary evidence such as instruction or letter of request from the National Joint Security or the FIA or a Joint Security Resolution or from the former President to Co-Defendant/Co-Movant Tweah, for which he (Co-Defendant/Co-Movant Samuel Tweah) approved and subsequently ordered the transferred of the above mentioned amounts to the FIA account.

He further indicated that, predicated upon these actions by Tweah and others, the LACC, through the Ministry of Justice, is alleging that the defendants acted outside of the privilege provided to agents of the President in Article 61 of the 1986 Constitution of Liberia. Therefore, they cannot enjoy this privilege, for which they must answer, and the only place to answer is this Court, Criminal Court “C.”

” IN VIEW THEREFORE, this case cannot be dismissed for lack of subject matter Jurisdiction, based on the facts, circumstances, and the laws cited herein above, and the Prosecution/Respondent must be given the opportunity to prove their case. Hence, the Motion to Dismiss is hereby denied, and the case is ordered proceeded forthwith,” Judge Willie ruled. – Writes Othello B. Garblah